Lynchburg Living

Departments

By Kimberly Feldkamp

It’s quite possibly the perfect place to spend a dreary, cold, gray winter afternoon. The new Ploughcroft Tea Room on Commerce Street in downtown Lynchburg is a place of warmth, and little of that has to do with the fact that the heat is on.

Guests are quickly greeted with a cheerful “hello!” from a friendly waitress with a welcoming British accent and led to a table in the middle of the room. Mismatched antique chairs surround nine antique tables throughout the room. On one wall, there’s a wooden mantle over a little fireplace and a Victorian couch. On the other, a large black cabinet full of English teas and chocolates, Scottish hard candies and a large glass container full of lavender. Delicate, ornate tapestries hang on the walls. There’s a lot to take in, but the whole atmosphere is welcoming and clean and very, very charming.

On my first visit to Ploughcroft, Pat Hutto, co-owner of the tea room, is quick to greet me as she waltzes out of the kitchen in the back of the building.

“Would you like some tea?” she asked.

The smells of the room and the atmosphere make it nearly impossible to say “no.” If you don’t have much of a knowledge of tea, Hutto might recommend the PG Tips tea, their most popular.

“This is a tea that’s found in most British homes,” she explained. “This tea can be brewed quite strong but not bitter. It’s a black tea that is high in anti-oxidants with very little caffeine.”

The PG Tips arrives in a beautiful, colorful little teapot, one of Hutto’s own. There are four different teas served at Ploughcroft. Besides the PG Tips there is also Earl Grey, Darjeeling, which, as the menu claims, is the “champagne of teas,” and Lapsang Souchong, which is a black tea that is smoke-dried and has a distinctive, smoky flavor. All of the teas are imported from England.

“Cream? Sugar?” she asked, picking up tiny sterling silver sugar tongs.

I nod and she drops two perfect sugar cubes into the pretty green and gold teacup in front of me. It too, along with all of the other patterned, colorful, gleaming tea cups, are from Hutto’s own personal collection.

Although the Ploughcroft Tea Room is new to Lynchburg–the doors opened October 23, 2010; the grand opening was celebrated December 11 at a special Christmas event–Hutto is not new to the tea business. Originally from King’s Lynn in Norfolk, England, she owned and operated a tea shop in Virginia Beach for 14 years, when she lived there with her husband, a former Marine.

The Ploughcroft Tea Room has become a business for the whole family: Hutto and daughter, Ashley Mahne, are partners. They started discussing the idea in the spring of 2010. By July of last year, they were seriously hunting for antique decor for the shop. By October, the tea room was open for business. Hutto’s other daughter, Shelbie Beato, lives in Greensboro, NC, and does the marketing for the business, creating the website and helping with the promotional pieces. Hutto’s husband is the dishwasher of the precious teapots and tea cups. He also helped build the front counter and a big, beautiful, sturdy cabinet that holds the imported teas and candies that are for sale.

“There’s such a different audience, a different environment here,” Hutto explained. “The shop in Virginia Beach was much more pub-y. This is much more geared toward American women and men.”

Hutto said the appeal of Ploughcroft has caught on much faster than she expected.

“I’m very surprised by how busy we are. I thought we’d ease into it. But we see a lot of repeat customers–some come two, three times a week–and we usually get a good downtown lunch crowd,” she said.

One look at the menu and it’s easy to see why this place would attract a hungry crowd. And Hutto said the place isn’t just for the ladies–she’s had quite a few male customers come in for lunch, or even to enjoy afternoon tea. You’ll find nothing but authentic British food, things like the popular Cheese & Leek Crusted Shepherd Pie or the Chicken & Mushroom Pie, both made fresh daily by Hutto herself. She usually gets to the shop around 8 each morning to start cooking and preparing food for the day.

Hutto’s favorite menu item is Ploughman’s–”a cultural icon of England”–which is an assortment of imported English cheeses, served with a green salad, piece of bread and pickled onions. Cornish Pastry, English Pork Pie and a Cheese and Onion Tart are a few other choices on the lunch menu, which is served Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Prices are reasonable, too: the dishes start at $6.50 and go up to $9.50.

There’s also Afternoon Tea daily from 2 to 5 p.m. The Afternoon Cream Tea comes with two warm homemade scones served with Devon cream, preserves and a fruit garnish, along with an endless pot of tea of your choice.

“The Devon cream is imported from England, and it’s the real McCoy,” Hutto explained with a smile. “It’s a pure dairy product and you serve it with a spread, like strawberry jam. Delicious.”

For $21, guests can indulge in the Victorian Afternoon Cream Tea. This tea is the same as the Afternoon Cream Tea, but also includes an assortment of freshly made dainty sandwiches, a selection of English Sweet Treats and fresh seasonal fruit.

“We’ve applied for a license so we can serve beer and wine,” Hutto said. “All of our menu items would go well with a British beer and it would be great to serve ale with lunch.”

Hutto also plans to open up for dinner one night a week starting this month (January).

“We’re only serving all British food–no salad bars here. We want this to be traditionally British,” she said. “You’ve got to have something different to succeed today.”

And it seems, so far, as if Hutto has found her niche. She had five parties booked in December, each with around 40 people, and has more planned for the months ahead. On Saturdays, she often has a harpist in the shop to play music as ladies enjoy a pot of tea. And in April, when Prince William marries Kate Middleton, Hutto plans to have a special celebration and show the wedding on TV in the shop.

“Book now,” she said. “It’ll fill up fast!”

But events or no events, Hutto’s tea room is often full. She said she sees her repeat customers, but also has people of all ages that come in to relax and enjoy a pot of tea.

“I think people really want a place they can come and sit and relax and enjoy and not feel so rushed,” she said.

And it’s true, about not feeling rushed or hurried. The whole environment is so inviting and relaxing and homey. It was almost as if we were sitting in Hutto’s living room chatting, not at a table in the middle of her tea shop.

“How did you come up with the name?” I asked.

“Ah, the name,” she replied.

At this question, Hutto got up and went to a wooden cabinet in the corner, and came back with a tapestry of a blue cottage.

“Three-hundred years ago, this was an inn in England, called the Plough. Then my parents bought it and it called it Ploughcroft. This was the house I grew up in, thus the name,” she explained.

It certainly seems fitting to name the tea room after her childhood home. After all, I had only been there an hour and already felt incredibly comfortable in this quaint British tea room.

Hutto takes a quick look around, surveying her shop with a smile. Although it is the end of the day, she seemed very content.

“I’m very happy,” she said. “I absolutely love this.”

And hopefully Lynchburg will, too.